{"id":483215,"date":"2026-10-02T22:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T22:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/483215\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T22:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T22:36:18","slug":"in-2021-bart-made-just-5-holiday-sweaters-for-a-local-giveaway-5-years-later-the-2026-design-is-officially-on-sale-as-part-of-a-100000-tradition-that-inspired-transit-agencies-across-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/483215\/","title":{"rendered":"In 2021, BART made just 5 holiday sweaters for a local giveaway; 5 years later, the 2026 design is officially on sale as part of a $100,000 tradition that inspired transit agencies across America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/BART-holiday-sweater-featured-1024x683.png\" class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\" alt=\"Models wearing BART Holiday sweater and BART station\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDevrimb from Getty Images Signature via Canva \/ BART<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/bart-alternative-service-plan-connect-bay-area\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/bart-alternative-service-plan-connect-bay-area\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_0\" data-category=\"click_internal\">BART<\/a>\u2018s annual holiday sweater is officially back for 2026, to the delight of local transit enthusiasts. But did you know that this massive tradition began as a tiny giveaway? <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that the 2026 holiday sweater is officially on sale, we\u2019re taking a look back at how it all started. <\/p>\n<p>From a small giveaway to a nationwide trend<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2021, BART made just five branded holiday sweaters to give away as novelty prizes for a BARTable giveaway. After riders caught on and asked where to buy them, the agency ordered a limited run of 150 sweaters for public sale\u2026 and they all sold out in 40 minutes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, BART produces around 3,000 holiday sweaters each winter, which have been known to bring in more than $100,000 for the agency around the holidays, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bart.gov\/news\/articles\/2024\/news20240708-0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.bart.gov\/news\/articles\/2024\/news20240708-0\" data-action=\"text_cta_1\" data-category=\"click_non_sales\">BART press release<\/a>. Proceeds support the agency\u2019s work to provide safe and reliable <a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/car-free-transport-sf\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/car-free-transport-sf\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_2\" data-category=\"click_internal\">rail service<\/a> across the Bay Area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the success of the BART holiday sweaters, transit agencies around the country started to produce their own, including New York City\u2019s MTA, Chicago\u2019s CTA, and Philadelphia\u2019s SEPTA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And right here in the Bay Area, you can now get holiday sweaters from Muni, Caltrain, and SamTrans, too.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 BART holiday sweater<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026 sweater design is called the BART Holiday Frankensweater, a patchwork design that stitches together iconic visual elements from the past five years of BART holiday merchandise. It costs $49.99 and is available for purchase now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRiders have been asking us to bring back some of our older holiday sweater designs, and this year\u2019s sweater does just that, making it both nostalgic for longtime fans and fresh for new customers,\u201d said Erica I\u00f1iguez-Diaz, Director of BART Customer Services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other seasonal items for sale include wrapping paper, BART holiday socks, a light-up necklace, and a sticker featuring BART\u2019s adorable mascot, BARTy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can check out this year\u2019s BART holiday collection at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.railgoods.com\/bart\/2026-holiday-collection\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.railgoods.com\/bart\/2026-holiday-collection\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_3\" data-category=\"click_non_sales\">Railgoods.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devrimb from Getty Images Signature via Canva \/ BART BART\u2018s annual holiday sweater is officially back for 2026,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-483215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}